Camp Site Innovations Thread

Hey fellow festival goers,

My name is Will and I have been attending festivals for many years. I have come to find that food, drink, sleeping arrangements... All of these can be planned out and executed with a certain amount of ease.

The hardest aspect with the outdoors is replacating certain utilities that you would normally find in urban areas (Power - Internet - Cooling/Heating - Plumbing... ect) although you dont want to ruin your outdoor experience so this would be in moderation.

This thread is for people to share their innovative ways in the field of out door style living. Share ideas on how you can be in a place that has nothing and make it so it has everything.

Example: Coachella allows no Generators... So unless you want to fight over an outlet with the other thousands of attendees you need power. Maybe its not even a phone, maybe you are camping out and you need power for an electric grill or even just some nice garden lights... Maybe you got Solar but like so many other things in life... Solar does not last forever.

So please share your camp site innovations with us... let us know what you guys are doing to help make your festival and camping experience alot more pleasureable.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Here are some of my own:

Mobile Power Grid - 4 Deep Cycle batteries tied together then passed through a power inverter to convert the power from DC to AC. A solar charging kit is left on the grid through out the day to charge back some of the power.

This little system can be made easily and depending on what you want it to do can be made solid like mine for a around $1100 dollars or as little as $300 dollars.

Here is a simple schematic:

Deep Cycle Batteries are designed to be drained slowly and are used in Motor Homes, Boats and even Air Planes.

Depending on what you will be doing while you camp and what your needs are, something like this might not be practical. You can purchase kits online for around $50 - $120 that will charge single devices at a time like cell phones but if you have a decent size group with appliances (perhaps blender, stereo, lights, cooking appliances) then you might need something a bit more sizeable.

Keep in mind when you are dealing with Solar you often need to purchase not only a panel but an inverter to convert the energy. You cant always just buy a panel and think you are good to go.

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Did You Know That Currently You Cannot Bring Generators To Coachella... But Currently There Are No Rules Against Idling Your Vehicle?

The reason behind no generators is because they run on fuel... And fuel runs out so you have to bring a decent amount of it. Can you imagine a whole area of people sleeping next to tanks of fuel? Because of the hazard you wont ever be able to have a generator.

But what about your car? Your car is like a generator and you can harness its power. Either by tapping into the battery directly or using your vehicles on board inverter...

Wait... What?

Yes! Did you know that most new cars have inverters built in? Cars like my Dodge journey or the Toyota Matrix have an inverter built in and an AC power outlet. This means all you do its turn your car on and let it idle... grab an extension cord and you have yourself a generator.

Now i know what you are thinking... Gas is like an arm and a leg now a days, plus all of that pollution!?

Well now a days vehicles meet specific emission ratings and fuel consumption ratings where you really wont burn as much fuel as you think while idling. Also you can buy something like "The Blade" http://www.ecooptimized.com/ to help filter pollutants. Just fill up your car before entering the grounds and you will have enough fuel for idling when you need power. This gives you the freedom to charge your phones, power appliances such as laptops, blenders and electric cooking appliances.

Now you might ask me... "Well i dont want to sleep next to an exhaust pipe... What about those fumes?!"

Well the thing is you can position your vehicle and camp in a way where you arent having these kinds of worries.

With a little imagination you can actually create your own smoke stack to divert these fumes... Here is how i made mine:

You can buy rubber exhaust hose that is flexible... Just get a clamp and connect it to your vehicles exhaust pipe. Just by some sort of pole mount/stand and attach the hose with either clamps or anything else to keep it in place. Mine will have a blade filter built in to keep pollutants out.

Again just a different approach at being able to harness yourself some electricity at your camp site.

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Did Someone Say Facade...?

PVC is the ultimate DIY material... You can use it to build anything. Here are some schematics for a Facade using nothing but PVC piping and connectors:

Once you put it together all you need is a tarp or blanket or something to wrap around it. This provides privacy and shade from the sun.

You can make ANYTHING using PVC... I mean freaking anything. You can build a bar, a stage, shading, whole huts, domes and rooms if you wanted.

These are just a few of my own designs and ideas... I hope this inspires some new ideas for Coachella campers and i cant wait to see some new ideas too

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

The battery grid is pretty smart idea but for three days I'm not going to pay the amount I just paid to attend the festival for convenient power at a camp site I'll be conscious at for ten to fifteen hours throughout the weekend. The PVC idea however, is golden and I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it myself, not as quick and easy as an EZ UP but still pretty simple. Also, I hope GV continues this but they had so many power stations that there was never really a line at any of them and charging a phone or laptop was pretty easy

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Originally Posted by kingsblend420

For the burn its great. But, Coachella is only 3 days. Don't you think the effort/cost greatly outweighs the utility you would derive?

I think it'd be worth it if I didn't have any shade. At least it would survive all 3 days, unlike a PVC structure I recall being attached to my tent a few years ago...
Unless you're talking about the solar...I'd do it if I had to money to spare.

Sean Penn Acid Test 2008 - Legendary

2008 , 2009, 2010, 2011 , 2012 wk1, 2013 wk2. 6 years running!

Hell or highwater, fire and brimstone, not even cancer is powerful enough to keep me from Coachella!

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Its true that with an event like Coachella one could survive without having their own power source, it really just depends on the person. A system like this can be used at any event, not just Coachella so if you arent camping a lot then you probably dont need to build that kind of a system.

But on the flip side for those that are going to be running appliances for cooking and maybe even those that want to run some lights for after festival drinking and fun... You might need a power source to run a few things.

The point was for those that are thinking of doing anything like that or even someone who frequently car camps then this would be great.

I will have my grid online so feel free to come by our site next year and check it out

We are also going to have some lights and music so feel free to come by and check us out.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

I got awesome solar garden lights stakes from target for 1.99, trimmed my camp ground with it, gave a nice nighttime feel to it

I do like that exhaust idea, but now only if the whole campground would do that.

Also, solar showers for 20 bucks are one of the best investments ever for Coachella camping. Fuck the shower line with a hardened pole. You're going to get all greasy by the time you walk back from the showers anyway.

If you camp with several people, spread your cars, spread tents around and have the center as the party room, that way you and your friends can have some privacy while racking lines, as opposed to out on a car hood in front of horse police. That was one of the dirtiest coked out things I've seen someone do in a while.

I got awesome solar garden lights stakes from target for 1.99, trimmed my camp ground with it, gave a nice nighttime feel to it

I do like that exhaust idea, but now only if the whole campground would do that.

Also, solar showers for 20 bucks are one of the best investments ever for Coachella camping. Fuck the shower line with a hardened pole. You're going to get all greasy by the time you walk back from the showers anyway.

If you camp with several people, spread your cars, spread tents around and have the center as the party room, that way you and your friends can have some privacy while racking lines, as opposed to out on a car hood in front of horse police. That was one of the dirtiest coked out things I've seen someone do in a while.

We have solar showers but let me ask you this, did your camp site get muddy or anything? We usually bring a pallet and dig a hole under it for the water to collect. Stand on the pallet and when you are done you can let the sun do its work or just fill in the hole.

Yea solar lights are great! We have a few that we bring and they even make solar wrap lights. I am scared someone will take them though so thats why i usually bring regular lights and plug them into my car.

Since the festival ends at 12 and the "quiet" time isnt until 2 its nice to have power to run everything.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Originally Posted by Das Disco

We have solar showers but let me ask you this, did your camp site get muddy or anything? We usually bring a pallet and dig a hole under it for the water to collect. Stand on the pallet and when you are done you can let the sun do its work or just fill in the hole.

Since we had about 9 cars together, we would just take a shower outside near the perimeter of our camp, water was so cold (used clean cooler excess water) we did not give a fuck about the grass below getting super wet.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Originally Posted by Mugwog

Since we had about 9 cars together, we would just take a shower outside near the perimeter of our camp, water was so cold (used clean cooler excess water) we did not give a fuck about the grass below getting super wet.

I guess arrive early so you get on the grass

Don't want to go off topic but how did all 9 cars get in together? I heard some people were having issues with this. I'm camping next year with about 5 cars and we wannna stay together.

Originally Posted by captncrzy

Is that written in some sort of underground rat language I'm not familiar with?

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

I wasnt meaning at Coachella, i dont want to be responsible for horses breaking their legs. I was just curious how Mug diverted the water away from his camp when using the solar showers.

Originally Posted by Mugwog

Since we had about 9 cars together, we would just take a shower outside near the perimeter of our camp, water was so cold (used clean cooler excess water) we did not give a fuck about the grass below getting super wet.

I guess arrive early so you get on the grass

LoL that makes sense, i suppose we could get a cement mixing pan and put the wood pallet over it if we really wanted to avoid any problems.

Originally Posted by Stickjohn

Originally Posted by Courtney

On my flight yesterday, I watched a tv episode which gave me new purpose when it comes to Coachella camping this spring:

HaHa thats really cool

Originally Posted by blackchango

Don't want to go off topic but how did all 9 cars get in together? I heard some people were having issues with this. I'm camping next year with about 5 cars and we wannna stay together.

I am interested in seeing how this works out as well... To be honest its my first time doing this. I camp all the time but this is my first time at Coachella. We will have some dj stuff with us so maybe we can all meet up or something? Were leaving Thursday morning.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Don't want to go off topic but how did all 9 cars get in together? I heard some people were having issues with this.

Yes, there were issues, but you just have to be persistent. (That doesn't mean be an asshole.)

1)We arrived with six cars. Put them in one line. Security searched all cars in the group. I was in the first car and got stopped at the gate. I said "Perfect, we are a group of 6." Gatekeeper guy agreed to let us all go through together when the traffic jam cleared up.

2)Security guy at next gate doesn't care about traffic jam behind him, pushes through all the cars in his line into a tangled mess, then randomly pulls the last 3 cars from our group and forces them to go through.

3)We point out to our gatekeeper that half of our group has gone through, and the other gates around us are pushing cars through. Looks around nervously and says "I just want to wait until this traffic clears up".

4)Guy finally realizes that traffic won't clear up until Friday afternoon thanks to people like the guy next to him and lets our other 3 cars through. We are pretty much stuck at a T junction of three rows of cars.

5)The other people in the group, who have now entered the stream, turn the wheel and block all three lanes. We enter the stream ahead of them. Kind of dickish, but the cars coming from the far end had actually arrived after us anyway, and the polite thing to do would be to let some people in. No one honks or actually seems annoyed by this.

6)Let a few cars in front of us for good karma.

7)Got to the gate where 3 rows converge into one. Flagged down awesome traffic control guy and he stopped the other 2 lanes while we went through.

8) We had planned to park in a row because the year before we had planned to park in a block and they forced us into a row. (Our shade structure would be easier to set up in a row.) We get there and they are parking in blocks. We ask the parking attendant if we can park in a row, he agrees.

9) An extremely rude supervisor comes down and yells at US (not the attendant) after we park TWO cars in a row (I was #2.) Rather than make the other 4 cars fill in the block, she holds things up and makes me repark.

10)We figure things out and a block winds up working out better anyway. All that matters is to be together. Be prepared to be flexible.

ONE MORE THING...you will get separated on the way to the venue. Don't worry about that. Keep together as much as possible, then work it out when you get to the big search lot. You will have plenty of space and time to get your cars together. BUT, once you get inside that gate where it narrows down to 1 lane, you will not have a chance to pull over and put your group back together.

So, work together, communicate with the cool security and traffic people, don't start a scene with the assholes, everything will work out.